A group of Republican senators in the U.S. filed a bill on Friday, March 13, 2026, targeting the Polisario, in a context of hardening positions within part of Congress regarding the separatist movement's links to networks supported by Iran.
Senators Ted Cruz, Tom Cotton, and Rick Scott announced the introduction of the Polisario Front Terrorist Designation Act of 2026, a bill that calls on the Secretary of State to consider designating the Polisario as a terrorist organization if cooperation with Iranian groups already listed on U.S. terrorism lists were established.
In his statement, Ted Cruz explicitly accused Tehran of seeking to turn the Polisario into "Houthis of West Africa" — a regional proxy comparable to the Yemeni movement supported by Iran. According to him, the movement cooperates with organizations linked to Tehran, receives drones from the Revolutionary Guards, and participates in arms flows in the region.
The text requires the State Department to submit a detailed report to Congress on possible forms of military or security cooperation between the Polisario and groups affiliated with Iran, particularly in terms of drones, armaments, intelligence, or armed operations. If confirmed, it could pave the way for a designation as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) and Specially Designated Global Terrorist (SDGT), two of the most severe regimes in the U.S. anti-terrorism arsenal.
This senatorial initiative is part of a political development that began in early February 2026 in the U.S. Senate. On February 3, 2026, during a hearing on counterterrorism in North Africa, Ted Cruz questioned several State Department officials, including Robert J. Palladino, a senior official in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, about the Polisario’s regional activities and its alleged links with Iran.
The next day, on his podcast Verdict with Ted Cruz, the Texan senator reiterated his statement about the "Houthis of West Africa", stating his intention to introduce a legislative initiative in the Senate to consider a possible terrorist designation of the movement.
In the House of Representatives, a similar initiative has been in place since last summer. Republican congressman Joe Wilson introduced the bill H.R. 4119 on June 24, 2025, also titled Polisario Front Terrorist Designation Act.
In an interview with Médias24, Wilson stated that "designating the Polisario as a terrorist organization will help promote peace," arguing that such a measure could contribute to stabilizing the region and clarifying the U.S. position on the Sahara issue. As we wrote, the bill already has the support of around ten members of the House.
These initiatives illustrate the emergence in the U.S. Congress of a broader debate on the security implications of the Sahara dispute, amid regional rivalries and growing concerns about Iranian influence in North Africa.
While not yet a formal designation, the bills introduced in Washington shift the American debate on the Sahara from strictly diplomatic terms to those of regional security and the fight against transnational armed networks.
